This invention relates to medical equipment, and more particularly to a safety blood Collecting device designed to prevent accidental needle stick injuries by medical personnel, for example during drawing of a blood specimen of a patient.
The ever increasing spread of diseases transmitted by blood and other bodily fluids, such as Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome and Hepatitis B creates a real threat to medical personnel of accidental, inadvertent puncturing of the skin by a blood collecting needle which has been in contact with an infected patient and of the transmittal of the often fatal disease to the unfortunate medical attendant. Despite educational programs carried by many hospitals, accidents continue to happen with an unfortunate effect of medical personnel being infected through coming in contact with bodily fluids of a patient.
Various attempts have been made to resolve this problem by proposing to use a protective needle guard, which would cover the needle when the blood collecting device is not in use and prevent the needle from being exposed during those times. However, such devices are expensive to manufacture and difficult to use, requiring several steps in preparation of the blood collecting device for utilization and, so far, have not found wide acceptance in the medical profession.
The present invention contemplates elimination of drawbacks associated with prior art and provision of an improved safety blood collecting device particularly adapted for drawing blood from a patient and which is easy to use and inexpensive to manufacture.